Thanks go to regular 'Getafix contributor for pointing us in the direction of the following shot across the bows from Their Lordships:-
The Justice and Home Affairs Committee today publishes a letter to the Minister for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending and the Minister for Border Security and Asylum. In the letter, the Committee sets out its concerns about the woefully inadequate resources promised by the Government, and the absence of a new Electronic Monitoring (EM) strategy.The Committee also believes additional issues must be addressed before EM achieves its potential.
The letter
Electronic Monitoring (EM, commonly called tagging) is likely to double once the Sentencing Bill becomes law. This will require a significant increase in funding for the Probation Service, not least for additional staff and training.
It also requires a new EM strategy with a clearly defined purpose for how the Government believes EM should be used. Without such a strategy and additional funding, the probation service is being set up to fail, according to the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee.
In its letter, the Committee finds:
Electronic Monitoring (EM, commonly called tagging) is likely to double once the Sentencing Bill becomes law. This will require a significant increase in funding for the Probation Service, not least for additional staff and training.
It also requires a new EM strategy with a clearly defined purpose for how the Government believes EM should be used. Without such a strategy and additional funding, the probation service is being set up to fail, according to the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee.
In its letter, the Committee finds:
- Poor communication to the Judiciary and the public by the Government, about the purpose and benefits of EM
- Insufficient evidence to support the efficacy of much of the use of EM, with evidence produced by the Government too often focusing on pilot studies and short-term reviews showing little to no evidence of quantifiable success
- Potential inability of current private contractors to handle the increase in those subject to EM
- Ethical concerns around the use of EM in some contexts, particularly its use in immigration bail
- Major concerns about the underwhelming, and at times dire, performance of the private sector providing EM services.
- Failure to fully grasp the opportunities provided by new technologies.
Lord Foster of Bath, Chair of the Justice and Home Affairs Committee said:
“The Probation Service needs more funding, and many more well-trained staff if there is to be a successful EM expansion. Without this, the Probation Service is being set up to fail.
“It is startling that the Government is promoting the biggest expansion of EM in a generation at a time of great technological advancement yet does not see fit to accompany this with a new strategy.
“There is also a new presumption that all prison leavers will be subject to EM on their release from custody. This blanket approach to tagging, regardless of crime and circumstances, diminishes the role of effective, targeted probation interventions, and risks creating an unethical system that is overly punitive and disproportionate.
“Alongside a major boost in funding and training, and a reassessment of procurement and contract management, a new EM strategy is crucial. At a time when the use of EM is changing, with numbers almost doubling and the intention to tag most prison leavers ‘at source’, the Government must reassess its approach to EM. The rise of new technologies, including non-fitted devices and AI, further highlight the importance of a new strategy, one which clearly defines the purpose of EM to both the judiciary and the public.
“We look forward to the Government’s response to the observations and recommendations in this letter.”
no point in having a strategy of any description if (a) no-one knows what it is &/or (b) no-one abides by it.
ReplyDeleteIt so hard to know what the reality of any situation is anymore when lammy is allegedly buying a new suit rather than getting across his first PMQs as the first ever black male MP to take the helm (Diane Abbott was first black MP, Oct 2019). MoJ sent davies-jones, their version of leavitt (trump's pr jack russell), to answer questions on bbcR4 this morning; barnett wasn't having any of it & it wasn't very edifying.
With the unhinged jenrick on one side, an undressed lammy on't'other & the untouchable incompetents at moj/hmpps holding the middle ground, there's no hope for an effective uk justice system.
Nice to know that failed justice minister alex chalk reads this blog, Jim; at least that seems to be a fair assumption given his interview on R4world-at-one this afternoon & quoting almost verbatim some of the views expressed here:
Delete"they have really got to step up on this, there's a whole cadre of people, senior managers who are responsible for prison safety, etc, you can't just blame the guys in the OMUs, the offender management units... I do think that the managers and the senior leadership have got to do more to get their house in order, you know they're paid quite good salaries, they really need to do their duty."
Never happened on his watch, eh?
Lame lammy showed us his tactless stupidity yesterday. Now we have all seen what an idiot he is bar mastermind. His ambitions to radically overhaul prisons will falter quickly as I hope labour do too. They have been a clear disaster . Lammy is way out of depth can be seen to be so. With this blinkered approach he won't put finances to probation yet he will reign down more difficult work. I don't think anything is going to cut through until it's another tradegy.
Deleteits not party political... its just political ambition gone mad.
DeleteAt a micro level, the organisation has failed to replace a receptionist in the office where my wife works. The previous person left a year ago.They apparently came close once or twice, but people got fed up of waiting 4 months for clearance to start a new minimum wage job. This matters in as much as if you can't manage this simple task, it's difficult to be optimistic about anything else.
ReplyDeleteI can well believe it, but in the meantime, the work is getting done and the salary is being saved. It won’t be distributed to staff as a bonus.
DeleteI think this is replicated at all grades around all offices in the community. For meaningful staffing levels changes to occur we need to over recruit by at least one person in each grade so that when people leave we are not down for the minimum of 6 months it takes the national recruitment team and then SSCL to process them
DeleteI’ll repeat what was said on the last post, and probation “leaders”, HMPPS, HMIP, Napo, etc all need to take note.
ReplyDelete“There’s a reason why probation models and youth justice services that use social workers are thriving. How difficult would it really be to take the £700 million set aside for tagging and AI, and instead invest it into a 20% pay rise across all probation bands, while giving all qualified probation officers and senior probation officers the all expenses paid fast track option to top up their qualifications to align with a Diploma in Social Work? That’s not radical, it’s just common sense. Probation recruitment and retention would go through the roof.”
The so-called 'leaders' don't want that model. They despise it because it doesn't fit with their reliance on spiteful managerialism to control staff. Qualified, well paid happy staff are problematic, they get antsy, ask awkward questions, embarass their line managers, get uppity, start eyeing up the leadres' jobs.
DeleteFar easier to keep staff unhappy, irritated, frightened to challenge, anxious, stressed, eager to please, divide & rule, feeling threatened... that's when the silly mistakes happen - & it makes it so much eaiser to pin the tail on the donkey.
Sandford (bbc reporter) was very clear yesterday when he spoke about the circumstances surrounding the Algerian prisoner released in error. He identified that the man had been through the CJ system & convicted/imprisoned *after* his pre-existing leave to remain had expired in 2020, meaning Buckland, Patel, Raab, Braveman, Shapps, Cleverly, Cooper, Lewis, Chalk & Mahmood were all relevant ministers (justice or home secs) who had done nothing to address the situation of a foreign national with criminal convictions remaining in the UK outwith any legal permission.
But some poor overworked, underpaid fucker in HMP Somewhere will be hung out to dry, lose their job & be unemployable as a result.
They do not want sentient beings.
They want cannon fodder.
Or better yet, the cobbler wants to gamble all of the taxpayer cash on AI.
Letter from the PGA regarding the erroneous releases.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly for me they call for more independence from political "showboating" and more individual localised autonomy!
I think probation would benefit from some of the same?
https://prison-governors-association.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/PGA-PRESS-RELEASE-6-Nov-2025.pdf
'Getafix
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/06/prison-sentencing-reforms-rise-in-crime-police-chiefs
ReplyDeleteGovernment plans to radically reform sentencing will lead to an increase in crime by as much as 6% in a single year, according to police chiefs.
DeleteThe reforms, which cover England and Wales, involve a presumption against short sentences of a year or less, with community sentences used instead, and those jailed being released earlier than currently the case.
The hope, which policing bosses said they share, is that offenders will experience greater efforts at rehabilitation, and in the medium to long term the changes will cut offending.
But Jason Devonport, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for criminal justice reform, warned of an increase in recorded crime of 4 to 6% across England and Wales in the first year after the changes were enacted.
That is equivalent to tens of thousands of additional crimes. In the year to June 2025, 6.6 million crimes were recorded in England and Wales, official figures say.
Devonport said: “We are expecting that, whilst the programmes in the community are being ramped up by the probation service as part of the implementation plan to support offenders to rehabilitate, we expect, certainly in the short term, there will be an increase of offending.”
Gavin Stephens, the NPCC chair, said: “The ambition on this from everybody is that over the medium to long term, if the new approach to rehabilitation is right, it should drive it down. But there’s no doubt, in the short term, we’re working on an assumption that there’s going to be an increase.”
Some convicted of domestic violence or sex offences may be included in those realised from prison early or not jailed at all.
More probation officers, about 1,500, are being recruited and need training to give the reforms a better chance of working.
Police say they are pressing government for £300m to £400m extra for the increased demands, such as greater monitoring of offenders in the community.
It is an unprecedented intervention by police chiefs, directly pinning their forecast of a significant rise in crime on a government policy.
Devonport, who spent 18 months as a prison governor, said: “I do believe in the sentencing bill and I believe in rehabilitation, but it has to be properly funded.”
Stephens said: “We’ve all been in policing long enough to know that some of the things that help people stop offending or desist from offending are not going to be resolved by short sentences in particular.
“So that’s a fundamental reason why we’re supportive of this.”
Ellie Butt, of Refuge, said her organisation was deeply concerned: “The risks posed by domestic abuse perpetrators cannot be underestimated. With the sentencing bill set to create a presumption that custodial sentences of less than 12 months will be suspended, it is crucial that safeguards exempting domestic abuse offenders are consistently applied.
“Survivors’ confidence in the criminal justice system is already at breaking point, and many tell us they receive inadequate responses from police when they report abuse. The government cannot afford to take decisions that will reduce the police’s ability to effectively respond to domestic abuse.”
Prisons in England and Wales are so overcrowded the new Labour government last year implemented a policy of early release for convicted offenders.
If there is an increase in crime, that could pose political danger for Labour.
The shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, said: “This revelation proves what common sense tells us: Labour’s weak and reckless approach to sentencing means many more criminals will be out on the streets, where they will commit more crime.
“The police are telling us Labour’s policy will make us less safe, and the government must change course.”
By cutting reoffending through rehabilitation, the long-term hope has been that crime will fall along with the cost of repeatedly having to lock up the same offenders.
But measures such as electronic tagging of offenders have had limited success. One police source said: “Lots of faith is being placed in tags. There is a growing consensus in policing that tags are the emperor’s new clothes. In the real world they don’t work perfectly. There is a fair degree of failure and non-compliance.”
DeleteA House of Lords report published on Thursday said the use of tagging is likely to double under the sentencing bill, and warns it may fail.
The report from the Lords’ justice and home affairs committee says more money is needed for the probation service, and the government lacks a clear strategy about when electronic monitoring should be used.
The Ministry of Justice, the department responsible for the changes, has been approached for comment.
Surely the relevant (obvious to anyone who considers what really happens when a person is tagged) some restrictions are placed on a person's life without any positive interventions or support to live succesfully within the law.
DeleteCompletely agree. It dosent really advance anything.
DeleteI have a bugbear with the recall rates at the moment. I think them farcical. Recent statistics show over 100 people a day are being recalled. 700 and more a week. Most are the 12mth and under cohort.
But here's the thing that puzzles me about the universal tagging of people released from custody.
If people are recalled whilst on tag what happens to them when they've served their fixed term recall? Tagged again on release?
That would seem a a very pointless exercise, at huge cost, to achieve nothing at all!
Maybe I'm missing something?
'Getafix
Huge cost? Yep. Pointless? Hell no, its fulfilment of the financial promises made to the tagging companies by the cobbler.
DeleteUs mere mortals may not feel the benefit, but if you're a member of the chumocracy ... KERCHING!!!
As well as "tagging" probation itself has become the emperors new clothes....on the one hand the mantra is people are getting "strong rehabilitatative packages"....the reality is under IMPACT a sizeable number of people are seen 4 times in a matter of 12 months!!!!
DeleteWhat research points out time and again is a strong relationship by the probation officer coupled with a focus on certain skills and aptitudes consistently shown and delivered by that officer results in lower reoffending among people supervised by such officers compared with those who don't use such skills
The probation service repeatedly ignores this evidence by consistently under training their staff and shackling them with meaningless dictats, policies and procedures which de professionalise the workforce even further, and unevidenced gimmicks which undermine their work such as tagging, unpaid work and "desistance based conversation toolkits".
No point in funding, recruitment and well-trained staff if they are not paid appropriately to retain them.
ReplyDeleteWent on training last week with some probation staff who were keen to tell me they look in peoples cupboards and under the bed im home visits like the stasi
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely no need to be that invasive.
DeleteSuch staff need to read the home visits policy framework and the required tasks outlined within....there is nothing about searching the home, looking in cupboards, looking under beds....they are putting themselves at risk completing such nonsense
DeleteMoney needs to be set aside, probably few hundred million £s, for good, basic and reliable security resources and systems to protect front line probation staff in sentence management. Waiting for Kim Thornden-Edwards to publish the plan.
ReplyDeleteYes! This is needed. Napo, where art thow?
DeleteNapo are not relevant the won't consult with them or give any negotiated indication. Napo what the fuc# is Napo
Deletehttps://www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/article/union-seeks-63-pay-rise-for-frontline-prison-officers-staff-moj-hmpps-lammy-poa-starmer
DeletePrison and Probation Service is facing a call to increase pay for staff at operational grades by 6.3% from April next year as the government comes under increasing pressure over its management of the nation’s jails.
DeleteThe Prison Officers Association made its demand in a submission to the Prison Service Pay Review Body published earlier this week. The request for a 6.3% rise for staff at pay bands 2 to 5 “would begin to repair and correct years of real-term losses, rebuild morale and support staff retention,” the POA said.
It is one of two options presented by the union to the PSRB. The other is the introduction of a new, “simplified” pay model that would raise prison officer salaries to £41,700 – which is the minimum earnings required for non-UK nationals to obtain a skilled worker visa.
In September it emerged that hundreds of Prison Service staff recruited from abroad may have to leave their roles because of an increase in the earnings level required to secure a visa. The current starting salary for a pay band 3 prison officer is £33,746. Staff at the lower pay band 2 are classified as “operational support grades”.
The POA said that of the two pay options it has proposed for 2026-27, the rearranged pay model was its preferred pick.
“The desired proposal for the POA is for the PSPRB to accept that it is crucial that we keep these overseas recruits – and attract more – by raising the salary of prison officers to satisfy the legislative changes,” it said in the submission.
“We therefore propose a complete overhaul of the complicated and confusing pay scales to accommodate this.
“For many years, the POA have commented to the PSPRB on the pressing need to simplify the HMPPS prison officer pay model. If the PRB do not accept that this proposal is the only option available to ensure the service is stable and able to staff prisons appropriately, by agreeing to satisfy immigration salary thresholds, we ask them to consider our proposals for a percentage pay rise for the remit group that targets gradual pay restoration.”
POA said its proposals to reform the Prison Service’s pay structure would cost £287m, while the alternative option would cost £280m.
HMPPS’s submission to the pay review body proposes a 2026-27 pay rise of 3% for band 2 staff and a “headline rise” of 2.5% for staff at bands 3 to 12.
It asked the PSPRB to "make affordability an important part of its consideration" and said the cost of the pay review body's recommendations "will need to be balanced against other prison priorities" including increasing prison places, delivering reforms recommended through the Independent Sentencing Review and "wider pressures across MoJ/HMPPS including in the Probation Service".
‘System-wide problems’ to blame for accidental releases
The POA submission on pay comes in a week when errors over prisoner releases have been the source of heated debate in Westminster.
On Wednesday, justice secretary David Lammy was repeatedly asked in parliament to clarify whether any more jailed asylum seekers had been released in error by the Prison Service since the case of sex offender Hadush Kebatu last month.
Lammy said in a statement today following the arrest: "We inherited a prison system in crisis and I'm appalled at the rate of releases in error this is causing. I’m determined to grip this problem, but there is a mountain to climb which cannot be done overnight.
Delete"That is why I have ordered new tough release checks, commissioned an independent investigation into systemic failures, and begun overhauling archaic paper-based systems still used in some prisons."
PCS, which is the civil service’s biggest union, said the mistakes highlighted “ongoing crises” faced by staff.
It said systemic issues were blighting the Prison Service, including inadequate staffing and training, unrealistic workloads and expectations, lack of planning and oversight from leadership, and “numerous” recent changes to processes designed to rapidly free up prison places.
PCS said senior prison management and government officials had ignored “grave concerns” it had raised over the past decade on behalf of its members who work in offender-management units and across the wider prison estate.
It said that mistakes such as the recent high-profile wrongful releases were “symptoms of multiple widespread problems” and that individual staff could not be blamed.
Union general secretary Fran Heathcote said the organisation stood “in full support” of members who continued to uphold professionalism and public safety under “shockingly difficult” conditions.
“Offender management units are staffed by some of our lowest paid members working in prisons. They remain under-resourced despite the prison population’s all-time high,” she said.
“We call for an immediate review of staffing levels and procedures, urgent investment in recruitment, retention and training, and guarantees that hard-working staff will not be scapegoated for the massive problems out of their control.
“If the deputy prime minister is serious about leaving no stone unturned during the independent review, PCS must be invited to contribute. It's time for managers and ministers at MoJ and HMPPS to listen, and to then to ensure that their staff are no longer left to carry the burden of a broken system.”
https://news.sky.com/story/public-at-risk-as-more-inmates-sent-to-open-prisons-with-another-manhunt-under-way-13465492
ReplyDeletePublic safety is "at risk" because more inmates are being sent to prisons with minimal security, a serving governor has warned - as details emerge of another manhunt for a foreign national offender.
DeleteMark Drury - speaking in his role as representative for open prison governors at the Prison Governors' Association - told Sky News open prisons that have had no absconders for "many years" are now "suddenly" experiencing a rise in cases.
It comes after a man who was serving a 21-year sentence for kidnap and grievous bodily harm absconded from an open prison in Sussex last month.
Sky News has learned that Ola Abimbola is a foreign national offender who still hasn't returned to HMP Ford - and Sussex Police says it is working with partners to find him.
Following the release in error of Hadush Kebatu from HMP Chelmsford on Friday 24 October 2025, the Deputy Prime Minister announced on Monday 27 October that Dame Lynne Owens will lead the Independent Review into Releases in Error.
ReplyDeleteThe terms of the independent review are as follows:
Establish the facts and timeline of the release in error of Mr. Kebatu from HMP Chelmsford.
Consider whether the relevant protocols around prisoner discharge were in place at HMP Chelmsford and whether staff had sufficient experience, training, tools, and technology to apply them appropriately.
Consider the extent to which the protocols were properly complied with in this case, identifying points of failure.
Consider what is causing the releases in error across the prison estate, highlighting any systemic factors that require addressing.
Consider whether the existing protocols and operating procedures that govern prisoner discharges are sufficiently robust.
Make recommendations on the basis of the above that can be implemented across the prison estate to reduce the likelihood of any such incident occurring in the future.
As part of this review, Dame Lynne will also offer to consult with the victims of Mr. Kebatu or their nominated representatives.
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said:
We will get to the bottom of what happened in this case, and we will take whatever steps necessary to tackle the spike in releases in error, so that we can uphold the first duty of every government, which is to keep the public safe from harm.
Dame Lynne Owens
Dame Lynne Owens is a former Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and former Director General of the National Crime Agency, bringing her extensive expertise to the review.
While Dame Lynne will be given access to the information she needs to deliver against the terms of reference, the review will be independent of HMPPS. The report on the review, including any recommendations, will be submitted to the Deputy Prime Minister and the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice. The review is expected to conclude within 8 weeks.
Dame Antonia Romeo's credentials look impressive on paper, but would you let her take the class hamster home for half term?
DeleteMoj IT, hmpps' prison first policy & trying to buy/build their way out of the latrine they've dug themselves in won't work in lame lammy's lifetime, let alone during his time as sec of state.
This is the manifestation of (at least) three decades of political hubris & organisational neglect at the top of the moj tree, fuelled by the desire of successive egomaniacs to prove themselves "tough on crime".
hilarity courtesy of Squealer's lunchtim 24 hour news programme when (unknown) newsreader asks Danny Shaw why the prisons can't just have a computer system to manage prisoner movements. Shaw didn't look amused.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.parliament.uk/business/news/news-by-year/2009/11/offender-management-system-a-shambles-says-report/
"This Committee has become inured to the dismal procession of government IT failures which have passed before us; but even we were surprised by the extent of the failure of C-NOMIS, the ambitious project to institute a single database to manage individual offenders through the prison and probation systems... The C-NOMIS project, initially envisaged by the Home Office for delivery in January 2008 for £234 million, was stopped in August 2007 because costs had trebled. The NOMIS programme was revised and scaled back to three offender databases for £513 million, for delivery by 2011."
Where your pay rise breach kings ?
ReplyDelete